Forward unto Death
by Wingsofhermes
Summary: Noble Six, Kain, replaces the late Thom in Noble Team. After hearing this, Noble Two starts to loath Kain as she sees him in place of her dead friend when she looks back on her memories, as well as taking his place in her heart. As Reach is attacked, Kain remains oblivious to his comrades distress, but is in denial of what he feels in return. Reviews appreciated, no flames please.
1. Chapter 1

Forward unto Death

Chapter one

Commander Carter, leader of Noble Team, looked over the file that was sent by Colonel Holland to replace the late Nobel Six, Thom. When Holland told the rest of Noble Team, they weren't exactly pleased, but all except Kat accepted it, she took longer due to her, Thom, and the Commander being the only remaining members of the original Noble Team. Carter shook his head to clear his thoughts, and frowned when he reached the rookie's bio. Of course Oni would black parts of it out. Oddly enough, almost the entire thing was blacked out, leaving only small pockets of reading material. Carter re-read the document to see if he had missed anything while looking over it the first time.

_Name: Kain_

_Service Number: B312_

_Classification: SPARTAN III, Beta Company_

_Rank: Lieutenant_

_Height: 6'9"_

_Hair color: Blonde_

_Eye color: Blue_

_Age: 21_

_Birth date: 2531_

_Birthplace: Boston, Massachusetts, Earth_

_Armor set: Varies, as subject changes between missions when able. Last known set: CQC helmet, Recon armor on shoulders, Tactical/LRP chest armor, Tactical/Tacpad wrist armor, Tactical/Soft case utility, Grenadier Knee guards, Silver Visor color._

_Armor Color: Silver base color, Silver trim._

_Preferred Weapons: M392 Designated Marksman Rifle (DMR), M6G Magnum Sidearm, Special Applications Rifle, Caliber 14.5 mm, SRS99, Standard Combat Knife, MA37 Individual Combat System Assault Rifle when necessary (not his primary weapon if given a choice)_

_Note: Has been given the rating of "Hyper-lethal vector" and the reputation of being a "Lone Wolf" when in combat. Rumored to have recovered wrist blades from dead Elites, but has yet to be confirmed. Is confirmed to have been a test pilot for the Sabre program._

Carter sighed, and closed down the dossier, he was actually looking forward to meeting the rookie, even if only to get Noble Team back up to full strength. The Lone Wolf reputation would have to be addressed when the Spartan arrived to their outpost. Carter stood, put on his helmet, and left his temporary quarters to meet up with Noble Team.

*Several days later*

Kain sat in the passenger's side of the Warthog, hold his helmet in his hands, looking as the silver visor stare back at him, thinking about all that had happened recently. He was working with the UNSC marines on Mamore dealing with the rebels in the area when he was notified of his transfer to Reach into Noble Team. Kain shot a glance over to his driver, a younger marine named William. He had greeted the Spartan with much enthusiasm, and had talked the whole time since picking him up from the Pelican drop site. Kain nodded and gave short replies when asked a question, but remained stony silent when the marine brought up a girlfriend he had back on Earth, as it reminded him of his former girlfriend, but had died in Operation: TORPEDO.

Kain sighed, and put his helmet back on, and watched as the small base of Noble Team, his new team, came into view. As the Warthog pulled to a stop, Kain grabbed the DMR that he had left beside him, placed it on his back, nodded his thanks to the marine, and walked away. He started towards the door into the base, passed two Falcons, and felt as though he was being watched. He turned to look at his right, and saw another Spartan loading a sniper rifle magazine, his helmet off. The FOF tag in his helmet popped up, showing him to be Jun-A266.

Kain turned back to the building, and continued walking. He heard two voices coming from inside the building; one sounding like it was coming from a communicator of some sort. From what he had picked up, it sounded like he was going to get his first mission immediately upon his arrival in Noble. Something about a Relay dropping out of contact at least a day ago. Kain stepped up into the building, and was greeted by the sight of another Spartan sitting on a crate, Emile-A239, sharpening a large kukri knife with his own armor, wearing an EVA helmet, but what disturbed Kain the most was the skull design that was scratched on it.

Suddenly an arm shot out in front of Kain, and yet another Spartan came into view, Catherine-B320, shooting a warning look at him. She turned to another Spartan in blue, "Commander."

Both the Commander and another Spartan next to him turned to look at what her. The larger one, Jorge-052, spoke up. "So, that's our new number Six?"

As Kain approached the pair, he heard Emile speak up behind him. "Kat, you read his file?"

"Only the parts that weren't covered in black ink." She replied curtly.

The blue Spartan, Carter-A259, turned back to the terminal towards the figure on screen, which Kain recognized as Colonel Urban Holland. "Anyone claim responsibility sir?"

"ONI thinks it might be the local insurrection. Five months ago, they pulled a similar job on Harmony. Hit a relay to take out our eyes and ears, then stole two freighters from dry-dock. That cannot happen here. Reach is too damn important. I want that relay back online, Noble One." Holland ordered.

"Sir. Consider it done." Carter replied.

"Then I'll see you on the other side. Holland out." With that, the connection cut off. Carter and Jorge stood up, Carter grabbing his helmet that had been on the table in front of the monitor. He turned to Kain.

"Lieutenant."

"Commander. Sir." Kain replied, nodding and stepping forward. The team moved behind him, going outside the door.

"I am Carter." _Redundant._ Kain thought. "That's Kat, Noble Two, Emile and Jorge, Four and Five." _Also Redundant._ The Spartans left the building, Emile sheathing his knife and picking up a shotgun, Carter putting on his helmet. "I am not going to lie to you, Lieutenant. You're stepping into some shoes that the rest of the squad would rather leave unfilled." Carter remarked to Kain as the team made their way to the Falcon's. "Me, I am just glad to have Noble back up to full strength. Just one thing, I've seen your file, even the parts the ONI censors didn't want me to. I'm glad to have your skill set, but we are a team. That Lone Wolf stuff stays behind. Clear?"

"Yes sir." Kain replied.

"Good, you're riding with Kat and Emile. Jorge, you're with me." Carter barked. Jorge picked up a large gun turret, which caused Kain to pale somewhat when he saw it. Kain got into the Falcon, sitting opposite Emile, with Kat sitting next to him. Carter signaled for the Falcon's to lift off, and Emile looked at sat back, his shotgun sitting across his lap.

"Welcome to Reach, Six." Emile told him as the base left their sight.


	2. Chapter 2

Forward unto Death

Kain remained silent for most of the trip, content with looking out to the scenery that flew past him, the Falcon's moving towards their mission. It wasn't until Emile asked him something did he speak. "Hey, Six. Heard you were in Beta Company. Weren't they all killed in Operation: TORPEDO?"

Kain moved his head to look at Emile before replying. "I was, but I was conscripted immediately after my training was finished."

"So, someone pulled you out and saved your ass, huh?" Emile questioned. Kain nodded, which earned a bark of laughter from the skull-helmeted Spartan. "That is some luck most of us don't get. Let's hope it didn't go away after you going to Mamore."

"What about all of you? Your FOF tags show you guys as Alpha Company." Kain asked.

"Yeah, we all are. Well, most of us at least. The big guy, Jorge, he is a Spartan II." Emile replied, shrugging. Kain widened his eyes as he looked at the large Spartan in the Falcon flying alongside theirs. "Yeah, shocked me too. To think, one of the super soldiers we learned from is in our own team. Hell, Thom had me punch him in the gut to make sure he wasn't dreaming." Emile added laughing, but was cut short by a quick glare from Kat. Emile quieted down and looked out of the Falcon up at the sky. Kain switched his gaze from Emile to Kat questioningly.

"Who is Thom?" Kain asked, and immediately regretted it. Kat's head swung around and he was sure that she was glaring at him as he felt his blood run cold.

"Thom was our first Noble Six, who you replaced. That's all you need to know, Six." Kat snapped, spitting out his call sign with evident disdain before turning around. Kain shrank back a little, and made a mental note to never bring up this Thom to her. They sat in silence as they neared their mission location, each dwelling in their own thoughts. Out of force of habit, Kain pulled out his DMR and checked it to make sure it was in perfect condition. He then did the same for his two pistols, and then ran a diagnostic on his suits shields, equipment and his wrist blade, but he kept the latter off and ran the diagnostic via his Tacpad to avoid questions.

The team spent the next minutes in silence, Kain finally settling into his seat, and closed his eyes to give them a rest. It wasn't long before he heard Carter speak over the com. "Listen up, Noble Team. We are looking at a downed relay outpost, about fifty klicks from Visegrád. We are going to introduce ourselves to whoever took it out, and then Kat's going to get it back online.

"Just get me under the hood, Commander." Kat replied.

"Sir, why would rebels want to cut off Reach from the rest of the colonies?" Kain heard Jorge ask.

"You get the chance, maybe you can ask them Jorge." Carter responded.

"Commander, we just lost our signal with HQ." Kat reported a minute later.

"Backup channels?" Carter questioned.

"Searching… nada. Can't say what's jamming us." Kat answered, her response drawing a frown from Kain. As far as he knew, rebels didn't have the equipment to block all of the channels that UNSC personal used, let alone a Spartan team's secure channel to their own command.

"You heard her. Dead zone confirmed, Command will not be keeping us company on this trip." Carter replied, his tone slightly grim from the news.

"I'm lonely already." Emile retorted, drawing a slight chuckle from Kain. As the Falcon's neared the Relay Outpost, Carter ordered the pilots to watch for shoot-down attempts.

As they neared the outpost, Kat opened up a com channel to the team. "Reading a distress beacon." Kain saw a waypoint position itself near a small building.

"Could be the missing troopers, let's check it out." Carter responded, then ordered the Falcon's to put them down. "Jun, I want your eyes in the sky."

"Sir"

"Let's go Noble." Carter ordered as he jumped out of the Falcon's when they landed. Kain noticed Jorge staying behind on the Falcon's along with Jun. "Alright, Nobles, spread out and watch the approach." Kain switched the safety on his rifle off, and moved down the hill to the waypoint, moving away to the right side of the team, Emile heading down the center, Carter and Kat going down the left side, closest to the building. Kain looked around warily, careful of any potential ambush, but the area had no decent spots to hide.

He switched his gun to Emile, hearing him grunt, but saw that he had decided to jump off a ledge that was high enough to damage his shields slightly. Kain shook his head, and moved into the small lot outside the building. He scanned the area, searching for hostiles, but all he saw was some debris, a burning Warthog, and some red paint smears. "Clear!" Kain called out to his team. Carter moved over to investigate the Warthog, Kat and Emile moved over to the debris, Emile searching through the wood planks for the distress signal, Kat stayed behind him, her gun ready.

Kain moved over and knelt down to the paint smears on the ground to see them better as Kat and Emile were talking, but reeled back slightly when he discovered that it wasn't paint at all. He heard Jorge over the com link asking about the troopers that had activated it, and decided to speak. "They aren't here, but I have a pretty good idea what happened to them." Kain pointed to several of the blood spots.

"Why are we not seeing explosive residue?" Kat asked; her hostile tone to him from earlier gone, replaced by cold professionalism. Kain simply shook his head in response.

"Noble Three, can you confirm any 'ex residue in the area?" Carter asked over the com.

"Hmm… Negative sir." Jun reported.

"Plasma, maybe." Emile offered with a shrug. Kain's eyes widened at the possible implications.

Jorge spoke up over the com, "Can't be. Not on Reach."

Emile shrugged again, despite Jorge not being able to see him. "There is a _lot_ of blood on the ground."

"Noble Leader, there is a cliff near your current position; it leads to a small housing structure. I can't get a good visual on it." Jun reported.

"Ok Noble, you heard him, move it. You have permission to engage, but be selective. No need to telegraph a presence. Six, your on point." Carter barked, bringing his rifle out to the ready, and moved away to the cliff side house. Kain sprinted to the front of the team, a good distance ahead, and turned the corner of a rock formation, but jumped back slightly as a large ostrich like bird ran past him, followed by several more.

Emile chuckled from behind him as he saw the birds. "What's the matter Six? Never seen a Moa before?"

"Laugh it up, Emile." Kain growled, moving down the set of steps that the Moa ran up. He approached the house cautiously; careful for anything that might jump them, but grew increasingly worried for the missing soldier's as well as any civilians caught in crossfire. He passed by several smashed pots whose pieces lay scattered around in front of the door, and went inside. There was little lighting inside, due to the angle of the sun and how the house was positioned, so Kain activated his night-vision and was slightly startled at the mess before him.

No hostiles, or bodies period, but the house was wrecked; furniture thrown and overturned, pots laying everywhere, Kain simply shook his head once he saw the scene. The rest of Noble team filed in, also slightly stunned, but kept moving along. Only Emile remarked on it. "If the rebels did do this, they need some decorating tips." The comment went by without a response.

Just as they were about to exit the house, Jun spoke up over the com, "Noble Leader, I am reading heat sigs in the structure ahead!" Kain sprinted for the exit to get a bead on what was waiting for them, just in time to see Jorge jumping off of the Falcon he was left on, then it taking off. The team approached the next building as the door opened up to reveal a single man walking out, with more people behind him, watching from the door. Immediately, Emile brought his shotgun to the man as he and Jorge approached.

The man shouted as he saw the gun aimed at him, but Kain couldn't understand him, though he picked up the language, Hungarian. The man continued speaking to them as Jorge acted as translator, giving the team a rough idea as to what happened. After confirming that the original residents of the house the team had just passed through was most likely dead, Jorge ordered the civilians back inside just as a report from Jun came in over the com, alerting Carter about unidentified heat signatures in a building to the east. Carter ordered a double time, and started sprinting for the building, followed closely by the rest of his team, Kain farther off the side then the rest of the team, it didn't help that Kat was practically beside him as they started off. He could still feel a somewhat hostile air about her.

Just as they reached the building, Kain's nose was hit with the smell of dead bodies, but was quickly cleared by his suits filters. Inside, he saw several bodies lying on the ground, all human, but two of them were pinned to the wall, wearing UNSC uniforms.

"Damn." Carter said, walking over to the bodies, his team spreading out in the room to take full account of the situation.

"Fill me in Commander. What are you seeing? Over." Jun inquired over the radio, sounding slightly anxious. Carter knelt down next to the blood that had pooled underneath the bodies as he filled Jun in, then stood up, and moved into the other room, signaling for the team to follow. Kain paused by the military bodies and took their dog tags before moving on. Just as he reached the room, he heard a clang above him, and his motion tracker lit up a red dot moving away, causing the team to jump into action, and moved outside, but by the time they got out, the hostile was gone.

"What the hell was that?" Emile questioned, curious as to where the hostile went.

"Jun, you see anything?" Carter asked, looking around warily.

"Negative, thermals are clean." Jun reported.

"Well, that's comforting." Kain muttered, moving into a nearby building with the rest of his team.

"Boss, I see movement, outside your structure!" Jun reported after the team had entered.

"Noble Two, move up west. We are about to be flanked." Carter barked as the team moved towards a set of windows, to which they were awarded with a sight that Kain had hoped to never see. Covenant were milling around the courtyard outside, only Grunts and Skirmishers, one of which had spotted the team, and had started squawking to the rest of its allies. A group of Skirmishers immediately responded and started running up to the entrance at the basement.

"Damn it!" Emile swore as he moved towards the stair.

"Covenant!" Jorge barked, readying his gun and following suite.

"Contact! Spartans, assist." Carter ordered, following, his DMR up at the ready.

Kain quickly passed Emile and leapt over the stairs railing to the basement level, fired his DMR twice while still in the air, hitting two Skirmishers in the head, landed down the floor, then reached out, grabbed a Skirmisher that had gotten too close to him by the head, and smashed it into the wall beside him, then finished off the Skirmisher that was still standing. "Goddamn." He heard Emile utter behind him as Kain moved outside, taking shots as enemies presented themselves, soon followed by the rest of the team, who soon joined in on the fire fight.

It took only a minute for the fight to be over, the Covenant all laying dead at the Spartans feet, Kain shaking slightly as adrenaline coursed through him, and turned his head to Carter after he told everyone to stand down.

"Contacts? It's the damn _Covenant_!" Jorge retorted.

"Cheer up, big man; this whole valley just turned into a free-fire zone." Emile replied, clearly savoring the idea of killing more Covenant. Kain shook his head slightly at that comment. He had known Emile for less then twelve hours, and he had already expected the guy to say something like that.

Kain started slightly as he heard Jun over the com, warning the team about movement near their area, and then started off towards the indicated area. He spotted a group of Grunts, _'Typical'_ Kain thought, as well as three Ultra Elites. Kain immediately threw a frag grenade to thin out their ranks, and then sprinted at one of the Elites that had staggered by the explosion. The rest of the team followed behind him, firing at the aliens, who then returned fire, as Kain holstered his DMR on his back, then jumped at the Elite, tackling it off the small rock outcropping it had been on. It roared defiantly in his face as a wrestling match between the Spartan and Elite started exchanging blows with each other, both fighting for control over the other.

Finally, Kain had pulled out his pistol, and fired several rounds into the aliens throat, rolled off as it started clutching its throat, then kicked it off the cliff they had landed near when it tried to stand up. Kain watched it fall for a few seconds, then took out his DMR and turned to see Kat and Emile getting into one of the Falcons. He looked at Carter, who was beckoning to him, and went to him as he and Jorge got into a flatbed truck, Jorge putting his gun on the back to act as a make-shift turret. Carter ordered Kain to drive, they were going to try and run interference for the Covenant as Kat and the others went to the relay outpost. Kain nodded in affirmative, stepped on the gas, and sped off.

**I apologize for the wait, I had to replay the mission so I could get some facts right. But I also had to deal with school, family, and girlfriend issues. But those are just excuses, my next chapter will not take as long to finish, as I have the next part memorized, so please be patient readers.**

**-end transmission**


	3. Chapter 3

Forward unto Death

Chapter 3

**-Begin transmission**

**Apologies for the delay, but it took time to recover what was left from the wreckage of Reach. However, I managed to piece together the attached mission recording for filing purposes, as well as for documentation as to what happened on the ground leading up to the destruction of Reach.**

**-Begin mission recording**

Kain reloaded his DMR and pistols on the Falcon as Carter, Jorge, and himself were being air-lifted over to the relay outpost to assist Kat and Emile. Carter was currently on the com with Kat for an update on the relay; apparently the Covenant had flash-fused the door, keeping it from shutting. Before being picked up by the Falcon, Kain had driven the flatbed truck into Covenant groups, quite literally running some over, as Carter and Jorge shot the others until they were called off to assist a downed Pelican and the troops that were in it. After fending off an assault of Covenant on the Marines that were pinned down, the Spartans were called off to provide support at the relay.

As it was, he wasn't that happy about leaving the Marines without support, but he had to make sacrifices for the mission. He overheard the pilot saying that they were nearing the relay outpost, though it was unnecessary, as it was rather hard to miss the damn thing. As they approached, he saw a large number of Covenant converging on the door, along with one getting shot by who Kain assumed to be Emile. As the Falcon got nearer, he could clearly make out Kat kneeling down trying to work on the door controls, with Emile near her, drawing their fire. Kain leaned out slightly, bring up his DMR, activated the scope, and started firing at the aliens, going for the Grunts first.

The Falcon touched down in the courtyard, and the Spartans piled out, Kain putting away his DMR as he was low on ammo, and pulled out his two pistols, and started moving towards the door, taking down multiple Covenant on the way. When he made it, Kain settled down next to the door, watching Carter and Jorge follow his path of dead bodies, and proceeded to adding more bodies to the pile.

"How is the door going Kat?" Carter asked after he arrived at the door.

"Taking a little longer then I would like Commander. I have cut about halfway through door." Kat replied, working on a panel.

"Ok, Noble team, hold them off until Kat can get the door shut." Carter ordered, then resumed to cutting down the enemies. They spent the next few minutes exchanging fire, the Covenant seemingly endless. One would fall, and five more would come from a Spirit dropship to takes its place. Kain was on his last clips of both pistols, and had run out of ammo for his DMR entirely, and had ditched it in exchange for the assault rifle of a fallen solider. Kain hated the weapon for its severe inaccuracy at range, but was useful for crowd situations, much like the one they were in currently.

Kain was busy reloading his rifle beside Kat when he spotted a slight shimmer behind her. Confused, Kain simply looked at it, until realizing what it was. "Kat!" Kain cried out, and brought the rifle forward to strike at the cloaked Elite, the impact bringing it to the ground. The Elite roared a challenge to Kain as the Spartan dropped the rifle and raised his right hand, curled it into a fist, and brought it into the aliens head, his energy dagger cutting straight through its shield and killing it instantly. He looked back at Kat, who had seen the kill, but before she could say anything, she was prompted into action by Carter, and confirmed she got the door ready to shut. Carter ordered a retreat, and before the team could get it, Kain quickly unclenched his fist, deactivating the energy dagger, grabbed his knife, and then stabbed the dead Elite in the throat.

Once he pulled the knife out, Kain picked up his rifle and turned to see Kat shutting the door, and clicked on his night vision as the room was plunged into darkness. He could see the rest of his team, minus Jun of course, as Carter ordered them to move into the outpost, leaving Emile posted near the doorway leading inside. None seemed to notice the dead Elite with an energy burn going right between the eyes.

They proceeded down a small, dimly-lit hallway, but encountered no hostiles, something that set Kain's nerves on edge. Something he learned from fighting the Covenant, they always left Elites to search the area they were after, while the Grunts and Jackals stood guard with the lowest ranking Elites. Kain was up front; progressing slowly to make sure nothing jumped out at them, but was meet with no resistance still.

Kain turned a corner into another room, and spotted the outline of a single body in the room, lying in front of a terminal. "Control room, go easy Six." Kat spoke up, moving past him. "Noble Six, search that body." Kain nodded in response, and went over to it.

Kain heard shuffling behind him as he kneeled next to the body, and looked over to see what it was, seeing Carter questioning an injured trooper. Kain turned back to the body and began sifting through his pockets for ID, or anything to give them an idea who the man was. "Where's the rest of your unit?" He heard Carter question.

"We got split. I don't think they… It sounded bad over the comms." The solider replied weakly.

"All right, Corporal, stay put. We'll get you a combat surgeon." Carter soothed the injured solider.

"Damn it, plasma damage." Kat swore when she took off a panel off of the terminal.

"Found something." Kain pulled out a small data module from the dead man's pocket, and held it up to Kat.

"I'll take that Six. Not your domain." Kat replied, the acid in her tone quite evident.

"Kat…" Carter looked over at the two when he heard her. Before Kat could reply, Jorge came out from behind a wall.

"I've got a live one here. Come on out, you." Jorge grunted, pulling a small girl out from the shadows, who was attempting to hit the large man, probably hurting herself more then the Spartan, and yelling at him in Hungarian. "It's alright; we are not going to hurt you." Jorge attempted to comfort the girl.

"Jorge…" Carter trailed off again.

"I've got her." Jorge replied. He then placed his gun down, and grabbed the girl's arms, attempting to calm her down. Kain looked back at Kat to check on her progress with the terminal as this went on, and surprised to see her looking back at him, her posture revealing she was uncertain of something. Kain tilted his head at her in confusion, causing her to jolt back to reality, and she quickly looked away back at the terminal, silently thanking whoever designed the MJOLINER suits to cover the wearers face, so that Kain couldn't see her reddening face.

He heard a clang behind him, and whipped around in time to see a Field Marshall class Elite swing at Jorge and the girl with its energy sword, and roar at the rest of the team. Two more Zealots then followed it, dropping in from the ceiling.

"What's your status, over?" Emile questioned over the com.

"We've been engaged, repeat, we have been engaged!" Carter reported urgently over the com. Kain had his rifle out and started firing at one of the Elites as it charged towards Kat with its energy sword. Carter pushed her out of the way, and turned to face the Elite as it charged. Its shields collapsed before it could strike at him, and instead barreled past Kain, knocking him to the ground. The second Zealot grabbed the fallen Spartan by his throat, and then activated its own energy dagger. Kain's eyes widened inside his helmet when he saw the Elites intent, and punched out, not giving his own energy dagger time to activate. The Zealot, unfazed, prepared to stab at the Spartan again, only to have its head meet Kat's boot, who knocked it away as Carter started firing at it with his comrade out of harms way.

Kain rolled away from the Elite, and grabbed a fallen assault rifle that Kat kicked towards him, and brought it up to the three Elites that had gathered at a door, one of them holding the wounded Marine as a shield, who was struggling against their grip, with the girl Jorge had found screaming behind them. The Elites moved down the connecting hallway after a minute of playing stare down, taking their Marine hostage with them. "Six, Five, after them. Two, secure the girl." Carter ordered, and his team jumped into action.

Kain reloaded his assault rifle, as its counter showed only seven bullets, and followed Jorge into the hall, and sealed the door behind them as Jorge threw a flare down the hall in an attempt to flush out the Covenant that were hiding. Kain sprinted in front of Jorge and took cover behind a large crate; taking note of how many Covenant had come out to take shots at them. Jorge had come up behind him and stood behind a stone pillar, his back pressed against the pillar as the Covenant started firing down the hall to where the Spartans were.

"Six, do you have any grenades?" Jorge asked over the whine of plasma weapons.

"A few yes. Are you thinking I use them to thin the opposition?" Kain inquired, half turning to face the large Spartan II.

"Yes, aim for the far wall; they seem to be hanging back for some reason." Jorge reported as he looked out from his cover to take note of enemy position. Kain nodded, put away his assault rifle, and pulled out three fragmentation grenades, pulled the pins, and waited for Jorge to confirm the throw. Jorge waited several seconds for the Covenant to ease on the firing, and then waved for him to throw the grenades. Kain popped out from his cover, and tossed the grenades, launching them over the shields of several Jackals as Jorge came around the pillar and started firing his obscenely large gun, allowing Kain time to take out his assault rifle and fired at them, not really aiming to take out any of them, more for distraction.

The grenades exploded, causing several Grunts to collide with some Jackals as the explosion and the shrapnel killed many of them instantly, the Jackals that were hit by the flying bodies of their comrades where then cut down by the two Spartans, who wasted no time to eliminate them. The fight was over before it ever really began, and the Spartans moved down the one way hall, receiving orders via com channel from Carter to start up the power if they found it, following the path of Covenant resistance, despite it being sparse. Kain and Jorge turned one corner and saw the body of the Marine the Elites had taken hostage; a plasma shot to the neck appeared to be the cause of his death.

Kain knelt next to the body, and took his dog tags, putting them in one of his pouches, as Jorge sent a silent prayer for the solider. Kain stood up, his face solemn inside his helmet, and walked down the hall as it opened up to a large room with moving pillars, several Covenant milling around where visible from the outlines his night vision gave him. Kain pressed himself down against the concrete barrier to prevent others from falling, and was slightly concerned with the numbers he saw. Two Elites, about half a dozen Jackals and an equal number of Grunts, and something told him that the third Elite from earlier was hiding where the power coupling was.

Jorge hung back in the hall, not wanting to alert the enemy of their presence in the room. Kain cut off his helmets audio speakers, and opened up a private channel to Jorge, who did the same. "I count maybe a dozen Covenant on the floor below us, plus the three Elites from earlier." Kain reported, keeping an eye on the ramp that led down to the Covenant.

"What are you thinking about doing, Six?" Jorge asked warily, he had read a few reports about the stunts Kain had pulled on Mamore to take out militia groups, sometimes taking out a whole platoon on guard one after another.

"Nothing extreme, just toss a grenade into their midst, cause a little bit of chaos in their ranks first, see what happens, act accordingly." Kain replied, shrugging silently. Jorge snorted in response.

"And then what? Shoot from up here and let them come up the ramp to flank us?" Jorge asked incredulously.

"No, just stay up here and shoot when targets present themselves." Kain said as he removed the pin from his last grenade, and tossed it into the group of Covenant. Due to the darkness, the Covenant did not see the grenade fly towards them, which sent several of them flying once it exploded, disabling the shields of one of the Elites. Kain popped up, and took aim at the unshielded Elite, and squeezed the trigger of his assault rifle, dropping the Elite almost immediately as the bullets bit into it.

Jorge rushed up to the concrete wall and shot down the disoriented Covenant, dropping most before they could react. Kain discretely crept behind Jorge and down the ramp, holstering his assault rifle and pulling out one of his pistols, and his knife. Hiding in the shadows wearing silver armor wasn't very easy, but he remained out of sight nonetheless as a panicking Grunt ran to the ramp in an attempt to hide from the assault Jorge was raining down on them. Kain stabbed the Grunt in the neck, severing its methane tank from its mask, causing it to spasm at the lack of breathable air and the sudden wound in its neck. Kain quickly stabbed it between the eyes to keep it silent.

The Covenant had finally managed to get some of their act together and started firing at Jorge's position, which earned their flank to be picked off by the second Spartan, who dropped the Jackals immediately, thus allowing Jorge to kill the rest. All that was left was the last Elite who had retreated into the separate room, and had yet to appear again. Kain quickly reloaded his pistol, replaced his knife and took out his second pistol, not wanting to risk his assault rifle causing more damage to the power generator. He approached cautiously, and dove out of the way when the Elite came out of the room with a Concussion rifle, followed by the Field Marshal Elite came out of the room, its energy sword activated, but stayed back, out of range from Jorge's gun.

The other Elite tried to line up another shot, but its aim was pushed off by Jorge shooting at its shields, which depleted itself almost immediately, which earned the Elite two pistol shots to the head from Kain, who stood up and faced the other Elite. The Field Marshal looked at the fallen Elite, then back at the silver Spartan, brought its sword arm across its chest, and bowed its head. "Demon in white, I ask for the honor of single combat with you, as you killed my blood brother. If you kill me, I shall be presented a place among our chosen to guide the others on the Great Journey. If you do not, my honor shall grow amongst my brethren." The Elite spoke, Kain's translator picking up its speech and translating it as best it could.

Kain looked back at Jorge, who seemed hesitant. "Six, don't do it." Jorge warned, his tone filled with worry. Kain looked back at the Elite, and placed his pistols back in their holsters, took out his combat knife, faced the Elite in a combat stance.

"Don't interfere unless I die, Jorge. The one I killed was his brother; I am not going to deny it a fight for its spirit." Kain replied, as he deactivated his shields, nodded to the Elite. The Elite roared, and charged towards the Spartan, who dove underneath its sword swing, and sliced at the Elites leg, cutting its leg slightly, but had to roll backwards before he could attack again as the Elite tried to stab at him. The Elite roared again as it tackled the Spartan to the ground, trying to stab Kain, who twisted out of the way, causing the sword to be impaled in the floor. Kain punched the Elite away, his knife being knocked out of his hands when the Elite charged him to the ground. Kain settled into a martial artist stance, settling for hand-to-hand combat if necessary, as he was certain the Elite wasn't going to let him grab his knife.

The Elite growled at the Spartan, who remained stock still, readying his opponent, and roared as it charged at Kain again, who side-stepped out of the way, grabbed the back of its armor, and threw it back with all of his strength. As the Elite flew away from him, Kain hissed as he felt pain in his arm, and looked down. A cut through his armor and into his skin was evident, and Kain looked back to the Elite, who had both energy daggers active. _"Tricky little bastard. Got to give it credit though."_ Kain thought grimly as he settled into a stance again, this time ready to leap away to his left, as the Elite charged again. It seemed the alien never learned, and always charged headfirst.

Kain deftly rolled to his left, and grabbed the fallen energy sword, activating it and swinging it in the same motion, catching the Elite in the side, nearly severing one of its arms. The Elite stumbled backwards, growling again, in pain this time, as well as defiance. Kain held the sword in front of him, the light illuminating his helmet, casting a ghostly glow over his armor, ready for the Elite, who seemed to be wary now that it was badly wounded. Kain decided to end the fight now, and took two steps towards the Elite, and swung the sword expertly, despite him having little past experience with the weapon, as the Elite backed away, growling at him angrily.

The Elite then sprinted to its dead brother, and grabbed the energy sword that it had, and activated it. It raised its arm diagonally across its chest, its head bowed again, Kain followed suit, if not out of respect. The Elite roared again, and charged, to which Kain responded with by charging as well. They met halfway, energy blades colliding, causing sparks to shoot out. They continued trading blows with the swords, neither scoring a hit on the other, until Kain heard Kat shout in alarm, followed by several pistol shots, which slammed into the Elite, causing it to falter, and fall down. Kain backed away, uncertain if he should end the aliens life.

Kain looked at the alien's eyes, and saw acceptance, an acceptance of its fate, that it had lost, and, despite being a different race and their battle having been interrupted, he saw respect in the Elites eyes. Kain approached slowly, and raised his visor to show his eyes, and looked down at the Elite as Kain raised his sword over the fallen alien. Kain quickly brought it down, killing the Elite swiftly, and pulled the sword out, then lowered his visor again, and looked back at Kat, who had ran down the ramp after she had shot the Elite.

She angrily approached Kain and slapped him upside the head in anger. "What the hell was that Six?! You were supposed to kill it, not play with it!" She demanded, her rage knowing no bounds at this moment.

"We had killed its brother and it wanted to duel with only me. Was I supposed to dishonor it, even if it was an enemy?" Kain retorted, now equally angry, pointing at the body of both Elites behind him.

"What difference does it make?! They are a part of a species trying to commit genocide by killing our race entirely! They couldn't care less about fighting with honor! They are animals!" Kat shouted at him. "And you got hurt in the process! How do you justify that?! Was that for its 'honor' too?!"

"Oh for the love of God, will you listen to yourself? They may be trying to kill us all, but they are still a sentient species! Are you going to start telling me I should kill every wolf I see because they kill deer and too many of them will cause the deer to become extinct?!" Kain asked incredulously.

"Dammit Six, you nearly _died_ because you wanted to satisfy the damn things need for honor! I am not going to let another teammate die if I could do anything to stop it! Why do you need to be so much like him?! We are at war; there is no chance to fight evenly, if you have an advantage, take it! Did you learn nothing when in training or did it all go down the drain after you heard about TORPEDO?!" Kat yelled.

Kain bristled in response, and he leaned towards Kat, his tone low and hostile, "I have never forgotten what I learned in camp Currahee, nor have I ever forgotten what happened during TORPEDO, nor have I forgotten what my friends looked like when I saw the recording of what happened during that damned mission. If you think for one minute that I don't hate every one of those bastards," Kain pointed to the dead Elite as he said this, "Then you don't know a damn thing about me, so stop talking like you do." With that, Kain turned around, and stalked towards the power generator and turned it on, causing the lights to flicker on.

Kat stood in the room, trembling with barely restrained anger, until she too stalked off back to the control room past Jorge, who stood silent at the balcony he had stayed up at. "Katherine…" Jorge said as she passed him, causing her to stop and turn to face him. "What happened to Thom… It wasn't your fault. Kain knew what he was doing, even if I tried to stop it. You didn't need to be so harsh with him."

"Yes I did Jorge…I don't know why I reacted like that, but Six…" She turned to look down at Kain, who was busy gathering his equipment, as well as confiscating one of the energy swords. "Kain is too much like Thom…" Kat uttered, barely above a whisper, although Jorge heard it, and nodded in response. She suppressed tears again, and moved down the now lit hallway quickly. Kain had now gone up the ramp and was approaching Jorge, his wounded arm now wrapped in bandages as best he could after applying bio-foam. Kain watched Kat go and turned to Jorge.

"What did she want?" Kain asked bitterly, still angry at her intervention.

"I… It was nothing Six. We better get back to Noble Leader to report in." Jorge said, walking down the hall, Kain following, albeit reluctantly. They returned to the control room without any problem, and were met with Emile waiting by the main door, the girl near the body Kain had searched earlier, and Carter standing over Kat as she quickly worked on a communications channel, presumably to Holland. Kain stood opposite Emile, taking out his assault rifle, despite the sting in his arm, as Jorge went over to the girl at Carter's orders.

Kain simply tuned out everyone and had several memories go through his mind, unbidden. He vaguely noted Emile explaining something to him with Jorge coming up on him about something, but Kain didn't quite hear them, his mind already in the past, remembering his arguments back in training, the amount of threats of court marshalling Chief Mendez had given him for the arguments, and he wondered how Chief Mendez would react if he saw the argument between Kat and himself a few moments prior.

Kain chuckled silently at his question, the Chief would probably tell them to drop and give him a hundred push ups, fifty curl-ups, another fifty jumping-jacks, run a couple miles, then ask if they still wanted to argue. He saw Kat slap a communicator into Carters hand, and walked out of the room, followed by Jorge and the girl, now named Sára, and Emile. Kain left last, somewhat hesitantly, and followed the rest of the team to the Falcon's, which had landed outside in the courtyard, now free of Covenant, and climbed into a seat next to Jun in the Falcon, sitting across from the source of his latest bout of anger, Kat, who was also looking out the side of the Falcon as Carter came out of the facility and announced that until ONI had more intel, the team was to be on stand-by until further notice, in other words, they were supposed to be at an assigned base to rest while the rest of the Marines fought the Covenant.

The Falcon's lifted off, and flew away to the Spartan's destination; Sára sat beside Jorge on the Falcon with Carter and Emile, and remained quiet, as did the Spartans. Kain holstered his assault rifle, and took off his helmet as the Falcon's flew, allowing the wind to hit his pale face, his hair slightly ruffling in the breeze, his face a look of silent content as he looked out over the beauty of Reach and remembered times long past. Across from him, Kat found herself staring at his face, the face that looked so much like Thom's, and yet, was so different. She mentally shook herself as memories of her dead comrade brought themselves up, and remained equally as silent as the Spartan across from her, both lost in memories of the past.

**-End recording**

**This is all that has been recovered so far, a team is still trying to piece together the other video fragments for filing. The next report I will send will be a documented debriefing of the Spartan Noble Team, as well as reports of what occurred during their time on stand-by.**

**Wingsofhermes, signing off**

**-End transmission**


	4. Chapter 4

Forward unto Death

Chapter 4

**-Begin transmission**

**Apologies for my absence. Several issues came up that had to be addressed immediately. One of these issues was my files were not converted from my old terminal to my new one, therefore, compiling this report took slightly longer then anticipated. However, I digress. This report is, as before, focused on Kain, better known as Noble Six. Due to circumstances beyond my control (i.e. the now confidential debriefings of Noble Team) (see ONI archives for debriefing report if authorized.) It is also worth noting that the reports I acquired to compile this made mention of Katherine, better known as Noble Two, treating Noble Six in a much more...shall we say affectionately.**

Kain let out a quiet sigh as the ONI debriefing had finally ended. He spent the last two hours being debriefed, as usual after a mission. But what really unnerved the Spartan was that they actually debated switching him in with Rosenda, despite how long it would have taken for her to transfer, thus putting Noble Team into an inactive status. _"Not that it matters now, considering we are on standby until further notice"_ Kain fumed as he stepped into the base that was serving as the teams quarters. Inside, Kain could see the garage, with Emile sitting on a crate, polishing the chest piece of his armor. Kain went to make his way to speak with the CQC Spartan when he was approached by a young man wearing a mechanist uniform.

"Uh...are you...Lieutenant Kain...sir?" He asked, his eyes wide as he looked up at the Spartan. Kain nodded and the mechanic snapped off a crisp salute. "Corporal Oliver Valdez sir. The Gunnery Officer has asked me to tell you that the armor you requested has come in. She wanted you to come and modify it however you need too."

"Thank you Corporal. Dismissed." Kain replied as he walked away. Deciding that talking to Emile could wait, the lone Spartan went deeper into the base towards the armory. In theory, he could put his armor situation off for at least a day, but he had no idea when the team's next mission would be, so he wanted to get it out of the way now. Approaching the door he was looking for, he faintly heard the sound of yelling from inside. Arching an eyebrow, he pushed the door open and was met with the, if he was honest, rather terrifying sight of Kat yelling at a technician who seemed to be working on her prosthetic arm.

"Are you saying that I don't know what I can and can't do with this thing? I had to recalibrate this damn thing as soon as I was out of rehabilitation because the idiot who attached it didn't know what the hell he was doing." Kat shouted at the trembling technician. Kain shuttered as he remembered her outburst at him for jeopardizing himself and his mission. He heard a chuckle from behind him, causing him to turn around to face a tall woman with black hair pulled into a pony tail.

"She normally does this when she gets agitated. I wouldn't worry about it sir. I assume your Lieutenant Kain?" She asked, standing with her hands on her hips.

"Yes ma'am." Kain replied politely, finishing his turn to face her fully.

"Good to see you this soon. The names Ashley, but I just have everyone here call me Ash, so that goes the same for you too mister." She said, poking him in his chest as she spoke. Kain nodded in response, and Ashley spun around, gesturing to follow her as she wandered into a separate work room. On the far side of the room, up against the wall were several crates that were mostly used to transport ballistics armor, a computer terminal next to the crate for stock documentation, and an operating table with his silver armor laying on it. "Well, we set up your new armor in the crates near the terminal. As you can see, your current armor is on the table, so feel free to customize it however you want. If you want to change into your armor to test it out immediately, I can get another techi and myself to help you zip the thing up." With that, she walked out and closed the door. Kain spent a moment looking over his armor for any sign of damage that he wasn't aware of, but was proud that he found none. Turning his armor's left arm over, he frowned as he saw the sliced part of his black bodysuit, a not-so-subtle reminder of his previous mission.

Shrugging it off temporarily, Kain approached the crates and opened them carefully, inspecting the contents of each crate. The crates were separated out by armor pieces, making it easier to look through them. After pulling out a select set of pieces, GUNGNIR knee guards, UA/NxRA utility kit, Tactical/UGPS wrist guard, UA/Multi-Threat chest armor, Commando helmet, and UA/Multi-Threat shoulder armor, and a new black bodysuit Kain placed the pieces next to his current armor, and proceeded to remove his former armor, piece by piece, carefully, almost lovingly. After removing his silver armor pieces, he set to work putting his new armor on the new black bodysuit slowly, making sure that each piece fit perfectly before moving on to the next. While he was trying to set his knife on the Multi-Threat chest armor, Kain heard the door behind him open up.

"Hello Six." Kat spoke up softly from the doorway.

"What do you want Noble Two?" Kain asked coldly, his back turned to her as he clipped the sheath onto the magnetic clip attached to his armor. He heard Kat sigh behind him.

"Is it so wrong for me to check in on a fellow teammate and Spartan?" Kat asked wearily in response.

"Considering we were almost at each others throats earlier, I think my reaction is justified." Kain answered, turning his head to look at her.

"Look, Six...about that...I am sorry I snapped at you like that." This admittance surprised Kain enough to face Kat fully. "You and Jorge were taking longer then was necessary, so I came to look for you two. When I saw you dueling the Elite I...panicked. I didn't want another death when I could have stopped it." Kat explained, her voice low and sad. _'She must be talking about Thom'_ Kain thought, his teammate's face having a far off look on it.

"Kat...what exactly happened before I transferred?" Kain asked cautiously, wary for any outburst from the fiery woman.

"Why? Too lazy to read mission reports Six?" Kat asked, knowing that the mission report was classified and covered in black ink. She sighed before actually answering. "I fucked up on a mission. A Covenant carrier was above a city on Fumirole, and Noble Team was called in to blow it up. I was given a nuclear warhead to carry to the ship to blow up. I set the codes and started the countdown when we were close to it." While she explained, Kat had moved over to an unopened crate and plopped down on it. "I didn't know a Banshee was flying towards me before plasma hit the ground next to me and knocked me down. I couldn't get up, my armor had locked from the impact, and I knew my right arm was shattered."

Kain instinctively looked at her prosthetic arm as the pieces came together. Kat caught him looking at her arm and held it out for him to examine closer. "Yeah, that's how I got this damn thing. The bomb rolled away from me, and what's worse, the damn idiot who set it didn't set the timer correctly. It was literally about to blow up in my face. Then..." Kat trailed off, her voice sounding like she was on the verge of tears. Kain caught a look at her face and saw the tell-tale look of a person shifting through memories. "Thom came up to me and took the bomb himself to fly it to the ship. The mission was a success...but he...didn't make it out." Kat took a shuddering breath as her story came to an end.

Kain left his armor and crossed over to his fellow Spartan to embrace her. Kat froze up in surprise as his arms encircled her. "I am sorry to make you relive that. Memories like those are something no soldier wants to revisit." With that, Kain broke the embrace and crossed back over to his armor. Kat felt a twinge of disappointment when he let her go, but did not know why, so she wrote it off as her being insecure again.

Meanwhile, Kain was mentally berating himself for his little stunt, but covered it up with patching together his armor. The two Spartan's remained silent as Kain continued to work when he finally placed the last bit of his new blood red armor together. "Kat, let's forget this happened, or at the very least keep it between us." Kain said as he looked back over at his companion.

"Only if you tell me about this Jordan girl." Kat retorted. Kain, shocked at her knowledge of Elizabeth's existence in the first place, stood wide eyed at her.

"How..." Kain simply couldn't finish his sentence; the fact that she had access to Jordan's file was practically unbelievable.

Kat smirked before responding, "Not everything ONI has on lock-down is secured Six."

"You sneaky little...fine, what do you want to know about her?" Kain asked wearily, sitting down on another crate across from her.

"Assuming you two were close, did you know anything about her prior to Camp Currahee?" Kat asked casually, leaning back against the wall. It struck Kain how pleasant she could be around when she wasn't bristling with anger at you.

Kain looked up at the ceiling, going back through the memories before he answered, "Not much. She was born on one of the first planets glassed by the Covenant and lost everything there. Friends, family, belongings, they were all gone. She didn't explain how, but she somehow wounded up in an orphanage here on Reach, and was taken in by some ONI spook into the SPARTAN program." Kain sighed inwardly as his time spent with Jordan flashed through his mind.

"What was she like?" Kat inquired, honestly curious about this girl, though she didn't know why.

"Straightforward, down-to-buisness kind of girl. She was pretty up-front about who she did and didn't like. She was a sweet girl overall, but if you made her angry, it was like Hell was rolling up on you. I remember the first time she snapped at Commander Kurt; it was during a five mile 'jog' and it was only our fifth day, so we weren't used to it yet. The Commander had run with us that morning and told us to pick up the pace as some of us were falling behind. Jordan looked at him straight in the eye and point-blank told him off. Mendez snapped back at her to watch her mouth when speaking to a superior officer, and she told him, and I quote, 'What are you going to do about it? Court-martial me? Give me extra drills? If you want to scare me, you have to do better then that.'" Kain chuckled at Kat's surprised expression. "Yeah, everyone reacted like that. But think about it; technically, she had seen worse then being threatened by Chief Mendez. Her whole world was destroyed with everything she knew. Nothing could really faze that girl." Kain commented, shrugging.

"Was she always like that?" Kat asked, intrigued about this girl that her comrade had fallen for.

"Yup. She had fire that would put a Covenant cruiser to shame." Kain answered. Kat was about to respond but was cut off by the door opening to reveal Gunnery Officer Ashley.

"Well, I wasn't expecting to see you Lieutenant Commander." Ashley said while saluting the Spartan. "Just came in to check on how the armor change was coming along."

"It's fine Gunny. I finished anyway, we were just discussing past assignments." Kain replied, standing up from the crate while Kat did the same. "Thank you for the opportunity to change my armor."

"Sure thing sir. Stop by anytime you want, we have plenty of armor that is not being used since...well since the last mission. I will keep you posted on any new armor shipments that come in, see if your interested at all." Ashely said before locking away Kain's new armor in a locker.

"Thank you. Good-bye." Kain replied before leaving with Kat. They left the armory and aimlessly traveled the halls of the base, no real destination in mind. After a few minutes of contemplation, Kain spoke up to his companion, "Kat?"

"Yes, Six?"

"If you do not mind, would you tell me about Thom?" Kain asked hesitantly, uncertain if he was overstepping his boundaries. Kat sighed before answering.

"Another time Six. I need to talk to the Commander about our next mission to see if he has information yet." Kat replied tiredly. Kain nodded in understanding; the wounds of Thom's death were still fresh in the minds of Noble Team. Kat bid her comrade good-bye, and left shortly after. Kain watched her leave, disappointed to see her leave. Shaking the thoughts out of his head, he left to the firing range to keep his mind busy.

Kat looked back to see her fellow Spartan leave as well. As soon as he was out of sight, Kat slammed her prosthetic arm against the wall in frustration, startling a passing soldier. Kat glared at him when he opened his mouth to say something, causing him to shrink away and turn around into another hallway. Kat closed her eyes to calm herself down before she meet Carter, inwardly cursing her indecision and emotional confusion.

**Another entry is done, much to my satisfaction. However, do to the lack of proper reports available to what happened during the teams stand-by status, this file may be unsatisfactory to some. I shall do my best to finish the next part of this report as soon as possible. The recovery of the lost missions reports and files are proving more difficult, despite my authorization.**

**-Wingsofhermes**


End file.
